Improvement in safes for sleeping-cars



o. RLUGAS. 'Safe for Sleeping-Gars. No. 219,960. Patented slept. 23, 1879.

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NA PETERS. PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHER. WASHINGYON D L UNITED STATES PATENT OEEICE.

CHRISTIAN E. LUCAS, OF ATLANTA, GEORGIA.

i IMPROVEMENT l-N SAFES FOR SLEEPING-CARS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 219,960, dated September 23, 1879; application iiled August 13, 1879.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHRISTIAN E. LUCAS, of Atlanta, in the county of Fulton and State of Georgia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Property-Safes for Sleeping-Cars; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

Figure 1 is a'front elevation of the lower portion of a sleeping-car having my safe applied. Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the same on line .fr xof Fig. 1 5 and Fig. Sis atransverse section on line y y of Fig. 1.

The same part is indicated by the same letter wherever it occurs in the drawings.

The nature of my invention consists in providing each berth in a sleepin g-car with a property-safe, in which valuables may be deposited, the lock or fastening of such safe being controlled by means of a concealed rod extending down to a point below the level of the top of the. mattress, and accessible to the occupant of the berth, the object being to protect the sleeping passengersfroln the robberies to which they are exposed 'in the ordinary sleepingberths.

In the drawings, P marks the panel of the car between the windows W W in a 'berth or section. In this panel an openingis cut, which is closed by a door, D, hinged to the panel at h h, and provided with a catch, c, which, when the door is closed, engages With a gravitating hook, g, to hold the door shut.

To the hook g is attached a lo'n g rod, r, which extends down to an opening, R, in the inner wall of the car, below the line m fm., which marks the level of the -upper side of the mattress.

The space S between the door D and the outer wall, A, of the car forms, when properly closed above and below, a safe depository for the valuables of the occupant of the berth, and one which, with my device for controlling the fastening, could not be opened by another person without arousing the sleeping passenger. The door is provided with a spring, s, to throw it open when the hook gis raised' by means of the rod r, the lower end of which is under the control of the person occupying the berth, who reaches it through the recess R.

l. A sleeping-car berth provided withva depository Afor valuables, having a door whose lock or fastening is operated by a device like that herein described, under the control of the occupant of the berth, but placed, in the manner stated, so as to be inaccessible to another person while the berth is occupied without arousing the occupant, the whole constructed, arranged, and operating substantially in the manner specified.

2. The combination, in a sleeping-car, of the safe-depository S, door D, locking devices cg, rod r, and opening or recess R, all constructed, arranged, and operating substantially in .the manner and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own invention I affix my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

CHRISTIAN E. LUCAS. Witnesses:

I. H. STANSBUEY,

CEAS. F. STANsBURY. 

